Compensation and ratings

I work at a regional firm in NY and I was reviewing the PWC compensation thread and was wondering if someone could explain the ratings/levels to me. I’ve never worked at Big 4 so the A1 to A2 levels don’t mean a lot to me. Is this just going from a first year audit associate to a second year audit associate? With the ratings, is it better to be a 1 rating or a 3? At my firm we are rated out of 5 with 5 being the best. I’m trying to see if my compensation is in line with those around me but I can’t follow the ratings well. I know my raises/bonuses have never been 15-20% (nor will they ever be probably) but I want to get an idea of how my overall compensation compares.

peakfreak

1 = First Year, 2 = Second Year, 3 = Third Year

EY, Delloitte, & KPMG promote to senior associate after 2 years
PwC promotes to senior associate after 3 years
Manager is typically after 5-6 years total.

Ratings are from 1-5, with 1 being the best and 5 being fired. Most people are 3s.

Skitch

I don’t know about the other two, but at EY 5 is best, and 1 is fired. 2 is a PIP for a year and then fired.

Ledgerman

Depends on the firm I suppose! At PwC 1 is best, 5 is fired, 3 is where most people land.

Nuhammad Irfan

5-6 years to manager is really fast, my B4 office usually takes 8 years to be manager. More than that you are guaranteed forever Senior.

Debit_cash

If you feel the big 4 is low balling your salary, then go work for Grant Thornton

Nuhammad Irfan

This……is sinister advice at the finest.

Life in B4 is already horrid as it is, can’t even imagine life at GT.

McValue Meal Audit

Worth noting, in my experience, if 5 is the best rating the raise and bonus difference between a 5 and a 3 is the equivalent of a few thousand dollars a year, gross. Hardly worth the additional hours it takes to earn that 5. This is coming from someone who was a 5 and a 3 before.

HWSquared

A previous employer of mine rated people as “Transformational”, “Outstanding”, “Strong” and then some other stuff that was less good. If you were “Strong”, that qualified you for 100% entitlement to whatever the bonus was. At “Transformational”, which HR expected to see <10 people out of 15,000, you were entitled to 115% of whatever the bonus was.

So "Strong" would get you a bonus of 10k, say. The significant extra effort (and you basically had to cure cancer) to get to "Transformational" netted you an extra 1,500. Pre-tax.

Tim Ryan

To be considered a 1 at PwC, you need to work 80+ hour weeks. It also doesn’t hurt to have big hooters (assuming your a female).

-Tim Ryan

Roger

Posting on life and compensation at BDO Not for Profit Group in NYC. An absolute despicable place to work for women as the culture led by Adam Cole and his boy Matt Becker who are too busy hitting on interns and first year women while the women in the group carry the load and do all of the work. The “Boys Club” as we call it runs the office and has bred a culture of zero quality and could care less about getting the actual work done. Adam is more concerned with his boys Matt and Jeremy attending his sons Alabama games and Met games then supporting the women and the other in his group that support and keep the group going. There is no amount of money or compensation worth being a part of group that has zero integrity. More to come.